Art Historian and Art Critic Donald Kuspit presented
the latest art display at the Rainforest Art Foundation, one of which is
located in Long Island City. Entitled 50
Years Creations On her eighty’s birthday 1937-2017, Marjorie Grigonis is the
artist whose works fill the walls. “This is a memorial exhibition for her,” said
Kuspit. “She is known for works of painting on paper and various forms of
art. Along with Marlene Yu and one other
artist there was supposed to be an exhibition of three women artists who turned
80. However, Marjorie died just before
her 80th birthday and I wanted to have a separate exhibition
dedicated to her. I want to show the range of her works that we were able to
get a hold of as there are many others in private collections which were not
accessible to me.”
Kuspit had known Grigonis since the 1980’s as well
as having met both Marlene Tseng Yu and her husband James. Marlene curated this exhibition. Kuspit is responsible for the catalogue,
which includes his introductory and comments on the art. “Marjorie was very much influenced by a
famous artist Anton Ehrenzweig who wrote The Hidden Order of Art.” In the book
Ehrenzweig had written, “Grigonis’s spontaneously applied form elements are
fragile and subject to unpredictable changes of mood” and viewing her as a
“creative thinker.”
Grigonis had spent part of every year the last three
decades on the rocky coast of Maine and has visited other countries whenever it
was possible. This show in her works of
repetition having visited Japan, France, Germany, Mexico, China and Italy along
with group of paintings inspired by her
trip to Morocco and the Sahara.
Grigonis
writes, “My abstract drawings and paintings are the visual record of
exploration, criticism, trial and err, and discovery. The process is both
determined and spontaneous; it includes critical reworking and accident as I
look for something I haven’t seen before.
There is pre-planning so the characteristics of the media are in large
part responsible for the look of each piece.”
Grigonis tends to find unusual combinations and humor with her
abstracts. Collages are another style to
view that she includes “material gathered from travels and at home” that refer
to a culture “and may have more of the feel of a narrative.”
The catalogue divides the art work into the
categories of: Unconscious color paintings; Linear tendency drawings; Prints
and etchings, Collage, Portraits of artist; along with Poems by Donald Kuspit.
Exhibition dates are from October 14 through
November 30, 2017. Rainforest Art
Foundation is located at 36-48 37th Street. Hours are: Tue-Fri
1:00pm – 5:00 pm. Phone: 347-242-2769. www.rainforestfoundation.org.
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